Front opening brassieres have been provided heretofore with front closures having two parts slidably fitted together, one part being affixed to one side of the brassiere while the other part is fixed to the other side of the brassiere and can be interfitted with the first part to hold the two sides of the garment together. When a button portion is depressed, the two parts of the closure can separate, thereby allowing the brassiere to open.
There are closures which also allow adjustment in use (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,784,765), which, upon depression of a portion of the closure will allow the closure to extend into a second closed position without full separation of the parts. For example, when the wearer is riding in an automobile and desires to relax the brassiere, the closure can be actuated directly through the blouse of the wearer to allow the closure to extend from its fully contracted position to an extended but unseparated state. Also without removing the blouse, the wearer can press the sides of the closure together to restore the contracted position. A two-step closure of this type has the advantage that it allows adjustment while the garment is being worn from a tighter position to a more relaxed fit without full separation but yet permits full separation when the closure is, like a front closure for a brassiere, used to allow opening and closing of the garment.
While the aforementioned closure has been found to be highly effective, it is somewhat longer than is desirable for many brassiere designs and thus is subject to improvement.